Part 3 of 14

The Essential Spirit – “Now the Lord is the spirit” 2Cor 3:17

How it is that the Lord Jesus “now” is “the spirit,” as Paul calls Him. The word “now” implies that before the cross, the Lord was not “the spirit.” We know the Jesus was in human form before the cross. Let’s now see that change described in Scripture? I will here cite two examples of this change as seen in John’s Gospel.

1. From these verses below we can establish that Jesus of Nazareth was to become is as the “water of life” to be “in him (believers) a well of water.” He could only be in man if He were to become “the spirit.”

John 4:14 (KJV) But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life.

John 7:38-39 (KJV) He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. ³⁹(But this spake he of the Spirit, which they that believe on him should receive: for the Holy Ghost was not yet given; because that Jesus was not yet glorified.)

Note the word “given” is italicized in the KJV v39. What does this mean? This means “given” was inserted by the translators and it was not in the original Greek text. The translators mistakenly assumed the Spirit simply had to be “given.” They did not realize that first Jesus had to become “the Spirit.” It properly says only…“The Holy Ghost was not yet.” This is because the Spirit was not yet available as He would be in His new form as the “Spirit of Christ.” After Jesus’ death, burial and resurrection “the Holy Ghost” is the “Spirit of life in Christ Jesus” to indwell believers as their new life. The Spirit that indwells believers wasn’t available yet because Jesus hadn’t yet been fully processed through the cross and ascended to the Father. So long as Jesus was on earth physically He could not become “the Spirit” who was to be the “water of life” in man. Thus Jesus, as “the water of life,” is one and the same as the “Holy Spirit,” who was to come later to be man’s indwelling water of life. First, Jesus had to die and rise from the dead as the “life-giving spirit” (1Cor 15:45).

2. Lets now look closely at these verses to see that “the Comforter” is Jesus returning as “the Spirit.”

John 14:16-20 And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever; ¹⁷Even the Spirit of truth ; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you. ¹⁸I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you. ¹⁹Yet a little while, and the world seeth me no more; but ye see me: because I live, ye shall live also. ²⁰At that day ye shall know that I am in my Father, and ye in me, and I in you.        

·         Notice the pronouns “he” and “him” in verses 16 and 17 referring to “the Comforter,” “spirit of truth.”

·         Now notice that it is the “I,” which was Jesus speaking in verses 18-20, who says “I will not leave you Comfortless, I come to you.”

The Lord here in John 14:16-20 was telling the disciples the Comforter is none other than Jesus Himself; that Jesus would return as “the Spirit,” as “the Comforter.” But again, as we say in John 7:37-38, this is only possible after He dies, resurrects, ascends to the Father.

Jesus returns as “the Spirit” to indwell believers as the fullness of the Godhead – Father, Son, and Spirit. Colossians 2:9 (KJV) For in him (Christ) dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily.

The Comforter Jesus spoke of is… Jesus Himself now as “the Spirit of life” (Rom 8:2a).

For too long Christians have sliced and diced the Trinity to almost make three individual God’s of the Trinity. But clearly from Scripture these three are one in one Christ as the Spirit of Christ, and they are in the believer. John 14:20 At that day ye shall know that I am in my Father, and ye in me, and I in you.

The Father, Son, and Spirit are one, and all are in us as the “spirit of life in Christ Jesus”

Romans 8:8-10 (KJV) So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God. ⁹ But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his. ¹⁰ And if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin; but the Spirit is life because of righteousness.